LG hosting

Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 17:26:36 -0400

Hello, Gang -

After a number of years of providing hosting services for LG (and a
number of others), our old friend T. R. is, sadly, shutting down his
servers. Whatever his plans for the future may be, he has my best wishes
and the utmost in gratitude for all those great years; if there was such
a thing as a "Best Friends and Supporters of LG" list, he'd be right at
the top.

(T.R. - if we happen to be in the same proximity, the beer's on me. Yes,
even the realy good stuff.)

I've arranged for space on another host, moved the site over to it, and
have just finished all the configuration and alpha testing. Please check
out LG in its new digs (at the same URL, obviously), and let me know if
you find any problems or anything missing.

> Hello, Gang -
>
> After a number of years of providing hosting services for LG (and a
> number of others), our old friend T. R. is, sadly, shutting down his
> servers. Whatever his plans for the future may be, he has my best wishes
> and the utmost in gratitude for all those great years; if there was such
> a thing as a "Best Friends and Supporters of LG" list, he'd be right at
> the top.
>
> (T.R. - if we happen to be in the same proximity, the beer's on me. Yes,
> even the realy good stuff.)
>
> I've arranged for space on another host, moved the site over to it, and
> have just finished all the configuration and alpha testing. Please check
> out LG in its new digs (at the same URL, obviously), and let me know if
> you find any problems or anything missing.

This is sad new indeed, as I recall when TR gave us permission to host
LG. Do you (Ben) or TR himself know of the reason why TR is closing
down?

> On Tue, Sep 21, 2010 at 12:11:29AM +0100, Thomas Adam wrote:
> >
> > This is sad new indeed, as I recall when TR gave us permission to host
> > LG.
>
> Yeah, I remember that pretty well myself. A good bit of water under the
> bridge since then, hey, Thomas?

Does any of this fall directly onto your shoulders in the long-term? I
mean, where is the new LG hosted, and are you looking, for, over time,
people to potentially need to support you financially? In other words, even
through best of intentions, do you foresee a T.R scenario in the making?
It's best to ask now, rather than assume later on, this might crop up.

I am almost hoping though, in situations such as this, that our mirroring
services will/can serve as automated backup, although I appreciate the
mirrors expect a known location through DNS each time to fetch new editions
of LG.

Basically, if any of this is an apparent problem for you, Ben, sooner,
rather than later, you need to say now. Lest forever hold your peace.

Kindly,

-- Thomas Adam

--
"Deep in my heart I wish I was wrong. But deep in my heart I know I am
not." -- Morrissey ("Girl Least Likely To" -- off of Viva Hate.)

>
> Does any of this fall directly onto your shoulders in the long-term?

Yes. And in the immediate term, too.

> I mean, where is the new LG hosted, and are you looking, for, over time,
> people to potentially need to support you financially? In other words, even
> through best of intentions, do you foresee a T.R scenario in the making?
> It's best to ask now, rather than assume later on, this might crop up.

Thanks for asking, but the arrangement that I set up in order to host
this and the other LG lists (at Dreamhost.com) includes web space in the
price. Free hosting was a very nice adjunct to the whole "we're the last
free Linux 'zine left standing" scene, but it wasn't a requirement - and
running a website these days doesn't cost much.

> I am almost hoping though, in situations such as this, that our mirroring
> services will/can serve as automated backup, although I appreciate the
> mirrors expect a known location through DNS each time to fetch new editions
> of LG.

That is the purpose of DNS, y'know. They don't need to learn
anything new, change any methods, sacrifice to any wicked furrin'
deities, or scale barbed-wire fences under an artillery barrage; all
remains calm and peaceful, because http://linuxgazette.net is, well, the
same as it ever was. Even though the files now live on another server.

> Basically, if any of this is an apparent problem for you, Ben, sooner,
> rather than later, you need to say now. Lest forever hold your peace.

[smile] Thanks, Thomas (although the above sounds vaguely like a death
threat. No, it's not a problem; in fact, given that T.R. was also
hosting my personal and business site, http://okopnik.com/ , I'm rather
glad that I did set up that hosting arrangement. It took me much of the
day to get everything transferred over, particularly the MySQL, script,
and crontab bits, but that's what I do for a living anyway.

I just read about it and almost think LG is gonna bye bye Kidding,
I know LG won't die that fast

OK, hosting problem. How about, someday, LG is hosted at the same
hosting that hold kernel.org? I think it makes sense, yea? Both are
free as free beer, and complement each other. One are the tools, the
other is the documentation ...most likely of those tools. After all,
if I predict correctly, kernel.org could sustain higher traffic load.

> Hi all especially Ben
>
> I just read about it and almost think LG is gonna bye bye Kidding,
> I know LG won't die that fast

Well, now that you bring it up: in the years that I've been running LG,
I've looked for, and haven't found, anyone interested in being an
assistant editor - or, in fact, anything beyond a proofreader or
technical editor. As a result, if I fall under a bus or sail off across
the Atlantic tomorrow, LG will indeed die that fast.

And if the expectation is that someone will spring up and Save The Day -
allow me my doubts. Being EiC requires me to wear a large number of hats
and ride herd on a variety of unruly felines, and it's taken me a long
time to get everything running relatively smoothly; I seriously doubt
that anyone, no matter how skilled or motivated, could just take over
and make it all happen without some guidance and experience. Right now,
I'm a SPOF - and I'm not exactly the Rock of Gibraltar.

So - fair warning, folks. It all could indeed fall apart by tomorrow.
Frankly, despite the large number of readers that we have, it makes me
wonder whether LG has outlived its usefulness. It's as if we were making
the world's finest buggy whips: yeah, they're beautiful and top quality,
- but if people aren't willing to pay what they cost to make, then their
time is over.

> OK, hosting problem.

Let me clarify that: no, it's not a problem. Really. It's handled.

> How about, someday, LG is hosted at the same
> hosting that hold kernel.org? I think it makes sense, yea? Both are
> free as free beer, and complement each other. One are the tools, the
> other is the documentation ...most likely of those tools. After all,
> if I predict correctly, kernel.org could sustain higher traffic load.

Actually, I explored that avenue at one point. Unsurprisingly, that
version of "free" costs far too much - because LG would then have to
follow their set of rules, in effect becoming their subsidiary
publication. Not something I'd want to be part of.

> Actually, I explored that avenue at one point. ? Unsurprisingly, that
> version of "free" costs far too much - because LG would then have to
> follow their set of rules, in effect becoming their subsidiary
> publication. Not something I'd want to be part of.

> On Tue, Sep 21, 2010 at 10:11, Ben Okopnik <ben at linuxgazette.net> wrote:
> > Actually, I explored that avenue at one point. ? Unsurprisingly, that
> > version of "free" costs far too much - because LG would then have to
> > follow their set of rules, in effect becoming their subsidiary
> > publication. Not something I'd want to be part of.
>
> Uh my, I didn't know that. Who actually handles kernel.org anyway?
> Linux Foundation?